OMG-O-S-H! Bionicle is back!!!!! I've always been a huge fan and was very sad when it was discontinued. This is my favorite Bionicle model of the January 2015 release.

Box/Instructions

The new box style is very interesting because Lego used a different company for their boxes called "G Box." The new style box is cool because of its angular edges. The instructions are the same style as any other Lego set.

Parts

My favorite part overall is Lewa's golden mask. There are some other nice parts such as his X Glider pieces and the Skull Spider's legs.

Minifigures

The only "minifig" is the blue Skull spider in this set. It is the same build as all other Skull spiders. The only difference is that this one is blue to represent that it is the jungle element for the Skull spiders. Yes, blue=jungle for spiders, green=jungle for Toa.

The build

Unlike any of the other Bionicle sets, Lewa has a unique gear system. It was a very quick build. The way you put the masks on for the new Bionicles is completely different than any other headpiece style in old Bionicles or Hero Factory.

The completed model

Like I said before, this is my favorite Bionicle in the new release. The only thing I don't like is that the ball joints show in the skeleton underneath the chest plate. I think they could have put 2 armor plates on to make it look more complete on all the new Toa models. There are 2 spikes on Lewa that "kind of" cover it, but you can still see them. I do like the way you can take his X Glider off and make 2 axes out of it.

OMG-O-S-H! Bionicle is back!!!!! I've always been a huge fan and was very sad when it was discontinued. Lord of Skull Spiders is awesome. I never expected there would be a villain that wasn't Makuta!

Box/Instructions

The new box style is very interesting because Lego used a different company for their boxes called "G Box." The new style box is cool because of its angular edges. The instructions are the same style as any other Lego set. One picture with a side view showing the yellow gears is a little frustrating because it will NOT line up the way it says it's supposed to.

Parts

Almost every single part on here has already been made, it's just a new color. One of the only new pieces is the golden mask of the Skull Spiders.?

The build

It was mostly a Technic-style build with good instructions except where noted above. It was a very quick build.

The completed model

Once completed, it's a very nice model. I like the feature where you press on the back and his legs try to trap another figure.

Overall opinion

This is not my absolute favorite Bionicle model, but still a very great one!

Among the most chibi of the microfighters line, still a great interpretation of a classic ship.

Box/Instructions

These boxes aren't foldable for storage. Too bad. The instructions are instructions.

Parts

As noted by CaptianRex in his review, now that the 2014 Advent Calendar is out astromech head becomes an amazing piece since it matches the Christmas tree droid perfectly. Past that, the pink studs are nice and the four white studs with holes are increasingly useful.

Minifigures

Like other reviewers mentioned, Lego keeps improving on the rebel pilots. Five stars.

The build

As small as the set is building the wings four times is repetitive. You get an x-wing out of it though, so can't complain.

The completed model

The pilot bumps his head against the droid a bit. Otherwise, a clean, fun set with moving parts and loads of playability (even without flick fires, which would ruin the look I feel).

Overall opinion

Second best set for Series 1, barely behind the Millennium Falcon. Get one.

Full disclosure, the microfighters line is my favorite in the Lego Star Wars universe right now (excepting Ewok Village, of course). Part of this is because I have a four-year-old and these are perfect for that age to play with since rebuilds aren't a major headache. Past that, I appreciate the accessibility of $10 a pop for some iconic SW vehicles.

Box/Instructions

It's a box, follow the instructions.

Parts

Giving this a five based on the printed roof tile in the front. Ratchet pieces are always good and the back grill/exhaust are not very common. This set hits the 10 cent/piece mark nicely, though for the size a $7.99 price tag would be nice.

Minifigures

I believe this minifig is exclusive to this set (minifig is currently not updated on Brickset), so bonus for that. Even if it's not, the grey helmet with red rebel log is great, the torso/leg printing is appropriate, and the white gloves make it Hoth-centric.

The build

The best of the microfighters line are some of my favorite builds for what the designers come up within the ~100 piece limit. This build is fairly elegant with angled slopes and the robust cannons.

The completed model

Chibi (cute-ish miniaturization) is great in limited doses and I think the microfighters line is perfect application for it. This build captures the look of the ship as well as 75049, given what it is. Flick missiles are neatly hidden under the wings increasing playability while keeping the model clean. Great snowspeederfor a kid (or adult) to swoosh around the house.

Overall opinion

Love it. Paired with the AT-AT 75075, it's the best of Series 2 (Series 1 honors go to Millenium Falcon, 75030).

Is the double-decker couch the same build as the couch found in MetalBeard's Sea Cow? Yes. Has the car in this set appeared a few times before? Yes. Should you still buy multiples of this set, ABSOLUTELY!

At the price this set is being sold at, everyone who loves the Lego Movie can now have nearly every main minifigure (Yarr, where be m' Wyldstyle in this here set?) at an affordable price. Also, the slight variations in the faces of the minfigures will enhance the abilities of any stop motion videographers. Also, those worried about the aftermarket price of Benny the Spaceman being destroyed by an asteroid can relax, for this is not the exact same Benny.

Box/Instructions

Parts

Before a closer conversation about the minifigures, here are some of the highlights about the parts in general. This set contains 209 total parts. 197 pieces for the build, with 11 extra pieces (2 of which are Uni-Kitty's alternate face and 1 of which is an extra light-blue unicorn horn). Those who build MetalBeard's Sea Cow will already know that most of the parts for the double-decker couch are small and found in multiples of 1-4 of each piece. The main exceptions to this piece count are:

A) 20 X Part 4581225 (Bricklink #63868) Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Clip Horizontal on End in dark blue gray. Outside of MetalBeard's Sea Cow, this piece has only been offered at a higher piece-count, in dark blue gray, once before. That time it was offered in 2013's USC Red Five X-wing Starfighter - UCS (set number10240).

B) 12 X Part 4528357 (Bricklink #3068B) Medium Blue Tile 2 x 2 with Groove in medium blue. 25 sets have offered this piece in medium blue before, yet most of those sets are high dollar sets, out of many people's price range, such as the Grand Emporium, the Simpson's House, and the Heartlake Shopping Mall. Honestly, the inclusion of this part (and the next one listed) in larger quantities should make many MOCers very happy!

C) 20 X Part 4168345 (Bricklink #3069B) Tile 1 x 2 with Groove in medium blue. Ok, this piece has shown up in this color 46 times before, but this is only the 6th time that this piece arrives in medium blue, in a set, at a count of more than 10. For anyone attempting to piece together some classic sets from recent years, you'll only need to buy two of the double-decker couch to fulfill the medium blue 1x2 tile count required for the Green Grocer or the Taj Mahal.

Minifigures

The Centerpiece of this set! Lets be honest, the five minifigures ARE the reason this set will sell, and it should be. Now, if Lego had just placed the same minifigures in this set, without any variations to them, the Bricklink market would crash, the resellers would riot, and way too many $100+ sets would end up locked away in closets for years to come. Though some of us might cheer such events on, really great variations within these minifgures are found in this set.

With that said, what are the slight variations within these minifigures?

Benny the 1980's Space Man = Benny's smile is reversed! If you want to recreate the stop-motion scene in the movie when Benny finally gets to build a Spaceship Spaceship Spaceship, you can. In this version, Benny's eyes are also squinting, whereas they are open in the first Benny offering.

The original Benny and this Benny both have a head with a second printing. On the original Benny, the reverse face had two eyes and a smile. On this version's reverse expression, eyebrows are added, and the eyes are only 5/6th complete, with a small portion missing at the bottom of the eyes. This slight change to the classic smiling face gives off a sense that Benny could be sincerely blushing.

Uni-Kitty in Pink X2! That's right, UniKitty arrives in this set with two unique faces, and they each face is printed on its own 1x3 brick. Now we have been given Astro-Kitty in blue, Angry Kitty in firey red, Queasy Kitty in queasy-sea green, and UniKitty and Biznik Kitty in Bright Pink.

In this set we again receive UniKitty in the main UniKitty color of Bright Pink. The tail is the same as the original pink kitten, but outside of the face, the main difference between this version of Unikitty and the one's listed above is that the body of this Unikitty does not consist of a 1X3 arch brick. Instead, this Unikitty is sitting down, with a 1x2 bright pink sloped brick for the body.

Now, as cool as a sitting kitty is, it is the face of Unikitty that will excite people. Afterall, UniKitty is about everything except unhappy things, and until now only about 200 people lucky enough to receive the San Diego comic-con version of UniKitty, which contained Cheerful Kitty face and Cutesy Kitty face, were able to change her bright pink complexion... and at those numbers, unhappy faces started to appear.

To settle Unikitty down, along with a riotous group of online comic-con commentors, the double-decker couch set offers a concerned Unikitty face and a "wobbly" Unikitty face. Again, great for stop motion. Like the San Diego comic-con version, but unlike the original UniKitty version in bright pink, these two faces are made up of two pieces each. Each face contains a 1X3 brick, where the nose, mouth, and eyes are printed. The other piece, a 1x3 plate, comes with two small arcs printed on. These arcs are UniKitty's eyebrows! Two pieces have eyebrow printing, and they are unique from each other and the comic-con exclusive. The comicon eyebrow piece had two eyebrows that both curved upward. Here, UniKitty's eyebrows curve opposite directions, with one piece having the left eyebrow up/right eyebrow down, while the second piece has the left eyebrow down/right eyebrow up. I personally cannot wait to see how these "eyebrow" pieces begin to show up in MOC's in the near future.

President Business can smile? He can, he can smile! A possible hint to the next movie (personal guess), people commented pre-release that this set has an odd mix of minifigures. After all, President Business and Ghost Virtruvious never visited Emmit's double-decker couch; but as this set is delivered nearly a year after the movie was released, maybe the Lego Group is leading us all slowly to the second movie? Though speculation, one does not need to speculate that President Business found his kinder smile near the end of the movie.

Again, the facial printing is what is unique here. He arrives again wearing a dark bluish gray suit. He has had the suit unbottoned and buttoned before, and in this version his suit is buttoned.

His unibrow can be found printed on both sides of the head. The least exciting face is one of slight doubt. The eyes are round with white pupils and a tiny concerned frown. This face plays well with the face seen late in the movie, as does the other face on this minifigure. On the main face, the unibrow plays large with the same eyes found on the other side, but the tiny frown is replaced with a large upon-mouthed grin. Anyone into MOCing might find this expression worthy of joining a choir of singing minifigures. I personally will be adding this face to my holiday village carolers.

Emmet in Construction Outfit... again. What can I say, he is the Special, but this minifigure proves that those who are special really do appear in the same outfit many times over. Lego could have gone outside of the plans on this one, but the plans were followed, and the torso and legs are the same as the other construction Emmets.

Two faces appear, with one being an exact replica or very nearly exact replica of the open lopsided smile face found on the CMF version of Emmet. The second face shows a concerned face, with a downward-turned smile and slight forehead wrinkles between the eyebrows. He does come with a printed 2x2 waffle cookie, so that is nice. He also comes with a hair piece and a hard hat, so you can offer Emmet in two variations. Unfortunately, the hard hat is not the version with hair showing below it, but is just a classic red hard hat.

Ghost Vitruvius!!! As unexciting as Emmet is, Ghost Vitruvius is the opposite. Vitruvius himself is oddly rare within the Lego sets. One version appeared in a rare promotional set, another version appeared with a copy of the first movie, and a third version appeared in two of the Lego Movie sets, but a Ghost Vitruvius had not appeared (to my knowledge) until now.

So, what does this wondrous spirit consist of? His torso is all white with white hands. This lack of color or printing makes sense, as his ghost head covers 2/3rds of his body, just like the classic ghost figures have always done. A side effect of this body length is that the back of the head kind of resembles flowing white hair, if you have a child's imagination.

Also, like many of the ghost bodies, Ghost Vitruvius glows in the dark! As seen in ghosts from other sets, the ability to glow may change in future versions, but for now, he glows in the dark!. Different from other ghost bodies, but found on all versions of Vitruvius, is a tan headband on the ghost. Honestly, he is/was a Master Builder, so he does deserve a mark of uniqueness, and this headband/halo certainly does accomplish the task.

Now, this minifigure comes with a cape. The cape fits over the torso and under the body-length head.The cape is slightly longer than the head in back, and is printed on one side with silver dots - which offer a magical effect to the minifigure.

The piece used for the legs will be used by some MOCers (this person included) for window curtains. The piece is a white 1x2x2 printed brick. It has 7 gray lines running vertically up one side. Each line ends at a horizontal black line, and under the line are 8 small fringe/rope balls. As I am not an interior decorator, I'm lost for a better way to describe them. In the end, though, I've seen such decorative balls found on lamp shades, fancy outfits, and curtains... and I know this piece will work well in MOCs for some people.

The build

The build is quite simple and straight-forward. It is a complete duplication of the double-decker couch found in the MetalBeard's Sea Cow set. To paraphrase Vitruvius, It is truly the most unremarkable build you'll ever come across.

The car is quite similar. Seen before, done before, and very basic.

The completed model

The completed model is repetitious of past builds. The joy of this set, though, is that when it folds down on the hinges, it actually has some zoomability to it.

Overall opinion

For those who loved the movie, and want a set that can quickly become a starter set for this theme, the minifigures found here make this set a major first purchase. For those who love ghosts, kittens, classic space, construction, and businessmen, this set gives everyone options; and at it's price point, it allows everyone to gain wonderful main characters without having to break the Lego piggy bank to do so. Overall, this set is one to fall in love with!

On a longterm purchase, this set is a MOCers dream. The parts within this set may not stay as a double-decker couch, but all 209 parts will easily be used in future non-licensed builds, and rarely can one say that about a set of any size.